What are the chances of discovering alien life?

Ok.

So for a second put aside personal opinions and theories and leave conspiracies at the door. I believe in ETS and that they are/have been visiting Earth but let's stay in the realm of the known and confirmed for a second.

It seems to me that the last few decades especially from 1990-2010 we came on leaps and bounds with how far technology came along, the last 10 years though have been rather slow and we seem to be slowing down significantly, what seemed like a mad rush in technological advancements that seemed never-ending, seems to be considerably dwindling now, for example look how far smartphones came from the first iphone to now, computers and that tech.

Anyway, I digress, with the advancement of technology and science and the universe ever expanding, do people on here feel we'll ever publically hear that life on another planet has been found, do you think we'll ever develop the tools to make contact or receive contact?

If so, do you feel we're on the brink of this kind of discovery/contact or do you think it will not be in our lifetime?

I kind of hope for the day when even conspiracy can not hide the truth, where it has to be announced to the whole wide world but with seeing how technology and science seems to be slowing down (not to a stop, I understand that there's still advancement it just seems to be at a slower rate) I'm sceptical as to whether or not that discovery/announcement for the whole world will come in my lifetime.

At this point, the odds are fifty-fifty. There either is alien life, or there isn't. That's because we:

1. Have no idea how life arises or appears or whatever out of a pile of non-living chemicals.
2. Have no idea how many factors there are that will either allow life to manifest and thrive, or kill it.

At the moment, there is absolutely zero evidence that there is life anywhere else in the universe other than right here on Earth.

About .0034

a reply to: R1CK3O

Assuming that there is life beyond Earth, the chances are 100% if we look long enough... UNLESS that life is in a star system that is at the edge of the universe expanding at such a rate that we can NEVER detect it.

Personally, I think that other non-human entities exist, not saying they are aliens, but might be. I also suspect that we (government agencies) have known about them for a long time, but have decided that the truth is too scary for our puny minds to handle.

I remember when I was younger thinking this tune and the odds were such a long shot



But as I get older those odds seem favourable, I got less chance of winning the lottery

I hope at some point there is some change to what we believe/led to believe

Its not just the distance of space that is needed to be factored in, the known age of the universe also means whole species could have been and gone by the time we get there, the universe is VAST in every measuable dimension

Still got my fingers crossed though

Life is everywhere. We are ants on the cosmic scale, we might register to some entities out there as a type of Space dust. We have no idea what is going on at any given time and it's not wise to use the human perceived measurements of space/time as we are limited even in our scope of understanding of this. We hear only in a set range of frequency, see at only 32 fps, and have limited access to available, measurable light frequencies.

Again, life is likely everywhere, but we like to see ourselves as special as this is both ego and the human condition to relate to something else out there like us.

originally posted by: seattlerat
a reply to: R1CK3O

Assuming that there is life beyond Earth, the chances are 100% if we look long enough... UNLESS that life is in a star system that is at the edge of the universe expanding at such a rate that we can NEVER detect it.

What's the difference between real, actual life that we'll never discover or detect and purely hypothetical, fictional life?

About 100% if I tell you where my ex-wife works...….can't miss her, she's the one looking all reptilian . I told her years ago to stop tanning.

a reply to: R1CK3O

"The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one - but still they
come!"

a reply to: R1CK3O

It is 50/50 like everything else...

either we do or we don't, 50/50....

Probabilities are a crap shoot

You should consult Enrico Fermi for that question. He is responsible for the Fermi Estimation, a means of analyzing logarithms and arriving at what could be considered a reasonable estimation with little actual data as the basis of calculation. Its an interesting read.

a reply to: R1CK3O

about 0%

again we're trying to look for life similar to earth. we presume alien life will be like us, theyll have eyes ears, walk talk, have extremities or limbs like we do. so far nothing seem to indicate that.

even on our own planet, some of the deep sea dwellers are so different than surface dwellers, scientists still remain clueless to how they can survive such conditions.

we're limited to understanding what 'life' can be based on our own perceptions.

for all we know, Jupiter or mercury are teeming with intelligent life, they simply don't have the same perceptions or needs to find other life as we humans do.

imagine galaxies that were created billions of years before ours, chances are if there were civilizations in those galaxies, they would be billion times more advanced than us. and we took flight less than 2 centuries ago and were already interstellar, imagine a specieslike us with a million years worth of advancement...we would have seen them by now.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

At the moment, there is absolutely zero evidence that there is life anywhere else in the universe other than right here on Earth.

Which doesn't say much for life itself, if so!



Drake's Theory celebrates the mathematical logic of there being plenty of life beyond us, but Einstein's speed-of-light limitations and associated dangers can only lead us to a quantum-based hypothesis - which itself leads to the more pertinent question of: "What are the chances of discovering alien life without even realising we have done so?


Some folks claim to know for SURE that they're here, yet seem to chuckle at our collective ignorance...





Perhaps the solution for direct contact is a luxurious moustache?

And billions of wonga in the bank.

Is there life anywhere else in the universe? Of course. Is it intelligent (human equiv) life? My guess is it's exceedingly rare. We're the only truly intelligent life (as we think of it) on our own planet and this planet is full of life. Think how rare it must be.

Not only that but the scale of the universe. The chances we could even communicate with "aliens" even if we knew where they were and they just happened to be able to communicate would be limited to how far a signal can travel in a given period of time. Light speed is the limit. That's a very small area of space.

I would guess that if there was any communication-capable species anywhere that close we'd have already made contact. Unless we find a way to achieve FTL travel, it would seem virtually impossible.

We would do better to focus on ourselves.

And I would also point out that I personally think of human beings as freaks of nature. Everything we do is something that is inherently unnatural for our species. We cannot prevent our own eventual extinction because it is a natural consequence of everything we do. Life forms similar to us would likely not survive long enough to get off their own home planet.

Chances are indeed 100% if time is not an issue.
And with the discovery of dark matter and energy the amount of places to look for it increased by roughly 25 times.

Its already hard to imagine intelligent life somewhere out there, lightyears away.
But the idea there could be someone or something, right in front of you right now, is just scary

I've gone firmament/flat. There is no other life "out there". We are the center of existence. The powers that be can't wreck this place if we know it is the only one. All encounters are staged. My colonoscopy taught me that lesson. You are awake, but when the drug wears off, you have zero memory of what just happened. That is probably why they make you stay until you are all there. You'd freak out if you suddenly found yourself wandering about, doing who knows what, without any recollection. Like blackout drunk, without the hangover.
These opinions are mine and you asked.

originally posted by: Tobd57
We are the center of existence.

That's basically true. We're like a waterfall. We exist because we're alive, like a waterfall that has water flowing through it. But the second the water stops, then the waterfall doesn't exist anymore. It's a cliff. And on a personal, individual level, when we die the whole universe (as far as we're concerned) also ceases to exist because from our own perspectives, the universe has never existed without me in it. That has been a constant.

Reality seems to lie along a spectrum. Some things are more real than others. Even if somebody did discover aliens, it would still only be the interpretation of data by some scientists. Actual personal contact or interaction with these aliens is extremely unlikely. So the "reality" of such beings would fall into the category of being only partially real. Real like Pluto is real, which is that it only exists as images and information and interpretations by other people who you have to trust. A consensus reality, and nothing you experienced yourself.

a reply to: R1CK3O

All we can really do is guess for now.

I believe we are on the verge of discovering simple alien life, bacterial or microbial.

Complex or intelligent alien life, don't hold your breath. If it does exist, our Universe is massive. Then factor in a possible Multiverse and other dimensions. Tricky stuff for sure. We could see it and not understand we are seeing life. So many factors.

S&F for a great topic to discuss.

a reply to: seattlerat

The older I get (Just turned 40) the more I doubt that a known alien race could be kept secret for very long.

I can't say that is impossible but that would take a level of cooperation we rarely see with governments. Many Black projects remain hidden, so I do not completely dismiss the idea. Part of me wants to believe the Val Thor stories and other similar alleged encounters.